The British National Formulary (BNF) has been around for many years, its a drug reference book that many people in particular health professionals use. It is one of the most essential resource for prescribing, dispensing, and administering medicines.
A healthcare professional may need to familiarise him or herself abut some specifics relating to medication; this reference book may have a record of common side effects and contra-indications and other important information that may help awareness of a specific situation and allow action plans to implemented in the most effective way possible.
Each BNF reference book is followed by a number which is advertised on the front page. The books are published by the Pharmaceutical Press. The BNF 77 from March 2019 is the latest version; it is a very informative book with price tag ranging from around £40; the cheapest I could find was £47.
A more affordable alternative is the 'electronic' version. The BNF app is actually free of charge, it updates regularly and reduces the risk of important information to be "outdated"; this is likely to occur with older hardcopies of the BNF in possession and the reluctance of purchasing the latest BNF. Perhaps, several reasons exist why some organisations do not always have the latest BNF. One of the reasons could be the actual price tag mentioned earlier.
The search engine on the app version will allow the user to specifically search a particular drug and the results are instantly displayed; whereas, in a book you would have to look at the index page, then, find the page number and search the page for the drug, which can be very time consuming and 'off-putting'.
Still some people prefer the book version, perhaps, there are some disadvantages using mobile technology, too. You may be able to think of some. In any case, it is good practice to have both the book version and the mobile version. So, if you have Android smartphone, iPhone or iPad download the app via the Google Play Store and Apple App Store (Save yourself some money and be one step ahead, its free).
